JAMA Forum: The Pain and Opioid Epidemics: Policy and Vital Signs

This post authored by Diana Mason first ran in the The Journal of the American Medical Association Forum on August 9, 2016.
Diana Mason, PhD, RN
Near the end of my tenure as editor-in-chief of AJN, theAmerican Journal of Nursing in 2009, I asked one of the coordinators of our pain column to write an article on opioid dependence and addiction. The diversion and misuse of drugs such as oxycodone, with a resultant spike in overdose deaths, had been widely reported in the news media. Her surprising response continues to resonate for me as we face the urgent public health problem of opioid abuse.
The column’s coordinators, 2 thoughtful nurse leaders in pain management, periodically presented evidence showing thatphysicians underprescribed and nurses underadministered pain medication, even at the end of life, leaving patients with unrelenting suffering.
The column coordinator said she didn’t want to write about the risk of opioid dependence and addiction because nurses already had “misconceptions” about the risk of addiction and inadequately assessed and managed patients’ pain. This came at a time when the undertreatment of pain was a major concern and pain assessment was promoted as the fifth vital sign.
The success of this effort is evident today. Nurses and physicians now routinely ask patients to rate their pain on a scale of 1 to 10; prescriptions for opioids increased from 116 million in 1999 to 202 million in 2009 and 207 million in 2013; pain management w...

Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - August 10, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Pain and Opiods Uncategorized Source Type: blogs